Stanford Bishop, Herefordshire - Kelly's Directory, 1905

Extract from Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1905

STANFORD BISHOP.

STANFORD BISHOP is a parish, consisting entirely of scattered dwellings, on the road from Bromyard to Malvern, on the Worcestershire Border, 3 miles south-east from Bromyard Station on the Worcester to Leominster section of the Great Western Railway, 14 north-east from Hereford and 10 north from Ledbury, in the Northern division of the county, Broxash hundred, Bromyard union, petty Sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Bromyard and archdeaconry and diocese of Hereford. Under Local Government Board Orders in 1884 parts of the parishes of Bishops Frome and Bromyard were transferred to Stanford Bishop. The church of St. James, standing on an eminence in the centre of the parish, is a building of stone in the Early English style, with some portions of Norman date, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a large but low western tower containing 2 bells: the chancel was restored by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1876 and the church was restored in 1884-5, at a cost of about £600, under the direction of Mr. T. Nicholson, diocesan architect, of Hereford, and reopened 7^th August, 1885: the work of restoration included the rebuilding of the nave and south porch, the opening of the tower arch and the repair of the tower itself and the general re-flooring of the church; on the north side of the church is a huge yew tree supposed to be over 1,000 years old, and which, at 6 feet from the ground, is 24 feet in circumference: it is quite a curiosity and greatly admired. The register dates from 1699. The living is a vicarage, consolidated with that of Linley Green, net yearly value £161, including 34 acres of glebe, which lies in Wales, in the gift of the Bishop of Hereford, and held since 1899 by the Rev. Hugh Esau Williams. Linley Green Mission Church, erected in 1893, is a structure of brick containing chancel, nave, north entrance, south vestry and western turret containing 1 bell. A portion of the ecclesiastical parish of Bromyard was attached by an order in Council to the parish of Stanford Bishop, and this portion of the township of Linton being part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bromyard is now legally attached to the parish of Stanford Bishop; the parish of Stanford Bishop was originally a chapelry of Bromyard: by this attachment the living of Stanford Bishop, which was only worth £75 per annum, has now become augmented by the sum of £80 per annum granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners out of part of the rectorial tithes and lands of Bromyard; The site was a gift of the Rev. William Martin, the present vicar of Bromyard; the church was built at a cost of about £500; the communion table is of historic note, being the old communion table from Tedstone Delamere. The parish room was built in 1903 at a cost of £200. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. William Theodore Barneby esq. of Saltmarshe Castle, the Trustees of the Worcester Municipal Charities, and W. Wall esq. are the chief landowners. The soil is clayey and loamy; subsoil, clay and rock. The chief crops are hops, apples and pears, wheat, beans and oats. Cider and perry are made here. The area is 1,514 acres; rateable value, £1,843; the population in 1901 was 173 in civil and 326 in the ecclesiastical parish.

   Parish Clerk.- Herbert Summers.

   Letters from Worcester, via Bringstye, arrive at 9.30 a.m. dispatched at 4.30 p.m. Bromyard is the nearest money order & telegraph office, 3 miles distant.

   The children of this parish attend the school at Acton Beauchamp.

CLERGY
Williams Rev. Hugh Esau (vicar), the vicarage
COMMERCIAL
Badham Jn., shoe maker Woodford Common	Hill William, farmer, Three Springs
Bidywell Thomas, farmer, Woodford Common	Matthews Robert, farmer, The Leys
Bint J., carrier	Mercer Thomas, farmer, Lower House
Bowen Thomas, farmer, Woodford Common	Morris J. carpenter
Buckle Jn. Farmer & hop grower, Hyde.	Page Major Benjamin, beer & cider retailer, farmer & hop grower, Woodford Common
Cook Elizh. Tristram (Mrs.), farmer & hop grower, Stanford Court	Pullen George, farmer, Boyce Farm
Evans William, farmer	Rowberry Henry, farmer
Green Henry, farmer	Russell Walter F. farmer, Hope House
Hill Charles, farmer, Sillcroft	Yarnold A. farmer, Barton hall

[Transcribed by Richard Lane in January 2003
from a copy of Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire, 1905 in Hereford Central Library]